Coal-handling apparatus.



T. C. KENNEDY. COAL HANDLING APPARATUS. APPLICATION nun AUG. 14. I916- 11,293,466 mm Feb 1,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

plant, showing ILLINOIS.

GOAL-HANDLING APPAEATUS.

muga- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, THOMAS G. KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of inois, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Coal-Handling Aparatus, or which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to improvements in conveying apparatus.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide, in a system of conveying mechanism, means for conveying material in bulk from the bottom of a supply Within a container, Without having to overcome the resistance to movement of the conveyer'imposed by the Weight of the superposed mess.

Another object of my invention is togenorally improve devices of this character,

objects of my invention will become readily apparent, to persons skilled in the art, from a consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein z- Figure 1 is an elevation of it cool storage parts in section, into which coal may be deposited by my improved conveyor.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged broken-away section of the receiving hopper showing: the conveyer in connection therewith. 1 Fig. 3 is c. section taken on line 343m" Fi 2.

i ln all the views the same reference characters are employed to indicate similar parts. 'While my, invention may be used for conveyors in general in many and various environments for conveying or handling all sorts of materials, such as coal, send, broken stone and other like substances in bulk,- Without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims, I Will, for purposes of disclosure, describe its use in a coal hendling system. illustrated by the accompany mg drawings.

In transferring or unloading and loading coal, or other similar materiel. from one car to another, in accordance with modern practice, as therein illustrated, it is first dumped into a. hopper, or other similar suitable receiving bunker, from which it is taken by s conveyor to an elevator which raises and umps it into another similar hopper or re ceptacle located ahigher altitude end from which latter depository the coal; is caused to flow byeiiiect of gravity, into sin Specification of Letters Ietezit. Application filed linguist M, sle.

. manual 'as a means for storing rec-elites net. i. leis.

serial No. lie-see other car or other conveyor which may be located in. substantially the same horizontal plane as the car from which it was initially or primarily taken. The parts of the apparatus which conveys the coal from the lower to the higher bunker or depository, are cooperatively timed and automatically controlled. By this means the apparatus will continue to operate, Without requirin supervision or attention, until all of the coal has been transferred from the lower hopper to the higher hopper. Such a sys tem of coal storage is especially convenient and supplying of coal some at intervals in to railway cars, 1000-" screens or the like.

and the delivering of udmeasured quantities motives, tipple One of such a system of handling coal or such other material in bulk, is the'elmost insurmountable obstacle interposed by the Weight of the superposed materiel upon the conve' in means that must, of necessity, take it irom the bottom of the deposited mass.

iy present invention is especially con cerned with this feature of such at system. In the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated only one exeniplification of the use of my invention, is a building structure provided with a coal hopper, bunker or depository 11, having an angularly tapering floor 12 and provided with a vertical addition, or cupola 13, into which an elevator for lifting the coal, may be entended. "Within the building, and below the bin or bunker 11, is a passage Way 14-, the lower portion. of which ceptacle or hopper for receivingthe coal which may be dumped therein-from the car 16. A pit contains the operative part of the coal conveyor. for conveying the coal from the hopper 15 into an elevator which letter also located in the pit l7. -20 are the vertical guide-ways for the elcvu tor bucket li and 21 is the lifting rope or cable for revising the bucket and which is secured thereto, as at 22. 23 is the winding drum and other machinery for operating" the conveyerflh for lifting the ole vetor bucket 19.

It will heohserved thot the 15 of the hopper or bin 15, taper inward to a, central opening and that under this opening the operative conveyor flight 18 is isolated. htondards are spaced apart one rest on the door it? of the pit 1i and the diiiiculties to be encountered, in

15, constitutes a rebucket 19.

bottom walls provide bearings for the shaft Spaced apart sprocket wheels 28 are carried on the shaft 27, and afiord supports for the conveyer chain. strands 30, respectively. A plate 31 constitutes the bottom of the conveyor and extends from the front upper and downwardly and rearwardly, as at 32, to a point substantially in the same horizontal plane as the shaft 27. The plate 31 is supported by the angle :bars and these angle bars are held. in place by vertical. posts 34 and A transversely extending shaft 37, on'the upper front end of the conveyor 18, carries he driving sprocket wheels 38--38 for the chains 30---30 of the conveyor. These sprocket wheels are held in spaced relation on the shaft 37.

Vertically disposed plates l-U, one on each side of the conveyor, extends from the shaft 27 to the upper front end and surround the shaft 37 and provide hearings ll therefor.

Theseplatcs 40 are provided with openiugs 42 which coincide with the openings '25 in the bottom of the hopper. The plates 40 are properly spaced and held apart by the stationary drums or spools 43 which surround the shafts 27 and 37 respectively.

The shaft 37 carries a driving pulley 45 for a driving chain 46 that is driven by the mechanism 23. Erectcd on the front of the conveyor is a strengthening frame 48 consisting of the vertical posts 4949 and 50-50, and the cross bars 51 and 52; which i are-connected to relatively short bars 5353 that are parallel with the angle bars This frame is also connected to the vertical plates 40 and serves as means for strengthening the front of the conveyor.

Suitably supported upon the side walls 15 of the bin or hopper 15 and immediately over the conveyor 18 is an arched canopy sufiiciently wide at its lower end to include the upper portion oi? the conveyor chain strands 303O between its vertical walls and arched at the upper portion, as at 56. in order to withstand the heavy weight of the coal 6 0 that may be imposed thereon. The conveyor, as illustrated, carries only two flights or drags 57 and 58 so arranged that when the flight has been moved up to a given position the other flight will have been moved to the position occupied by mentioned flight. The coal in the bin 15 will move by gravity through the openings 42-42 in the plates id-40 and be deposited upon the floor 31 of the conveyor 18. The flight 57, of the conveyor, will carry forward the coal that has been deposited in front of it upon the floor 31 to the hinged apron 63, and the only material friction imposed upon the conveyor results from contact of the bottom portion of'the chain with the'surrounding coal. the upper portion of the chain being guided and protected by the arched canopy or conveyer guardfili, so'that the conveyor chains may move freely upon their return to the lower or rear sprocket wheels 28- -28.

The apron 63 is pivoted, as at 64, and is held in its highest position, shown in Fig. 2, by the counter weight 65.

the vertically movable bucket 19 until the bucket returns to its pit on down trip.

The arrangement oi operation is such that the conveyor 18 may stand still while the bucket 19 is being conveyed to the top into the tower 13 and there inverted so as to deposit the coal in the bin 11 and is returned to its lowest position. When the bucket 19 returns to the position shown in Fig. 1, the conveyor 18 is thereupon automatically started or it has moved continuously so to have just enough material ready for bucket to receive it when the bucket is below apron 63 and the amount of coal that it will deliver into the bucket, during one-half revolution of the conveyor chains, is suiiicient tofill the bucket, after which the bucket will once more start on its upward journey, being set intov operation by suitable automatically operable means, which is not any part of the subject matter oi this invention. i

The locomotives 70 and 71 may be placed upon the tracks 72 and 73, respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. and coal may be taken from the bin or depository 11 through the respective chute 75 by pulling upon the ropes that. control the valve to permit the coal to pass through the chute.

While I have herein shown a single omhodiiuent of my invention for the purpose of clear disclosure it is manifest that many changes may be made in the general construction and arrangements of the parts within the spirit and scope of the appended claim. and furthermore my conveyor guard may be used in connection with conveyors that feed a constant stream of any material in bulk from one receptacle to another. and is not limited in its use to conveying coal.

Having described my invention what I claim is:----

in a conveyer system, the combination of a receiving loin: a oonveyer iiight passin through the bin ncar the bottom thereo said flight elevated at its discharge end above its receiving' end: a guard over said flight within the bin. having openings in its side walls to admit material to be com veyed to the conveyer; an elevator bucket for receiving a charge from said conveyer In testimony Whereflf mmunto set my and elevatlng 1t, and constantly moving hand in the presence of two subscnbmg WU;- automatlcally operable means for alternately messes.

moving said ponveye'r and bqcket whereby THOMAS G KENNEDY. 15 the bucket W111 be raised and lowered be- In the presence 0f-- tween each time of operation of the con- JOHN W. lhmoom yeyer. A. G, Dommms-x. 

